Save State Hero -Ch8- (Patreon)

Rushing to the back of the car Edmund caught Dorothy’s eyes as he went.

“Dot, stay out here,” Edmund commanded when their eyes met. Then he shoved the helmet down on his head. “Stay out here and wait further instructions. I need to go save Alina and I don’t have time to save you if you come in.”

“I… what?” asked Dorothy, sounding shocked to her core.

“Stay here!” Edmund pleaded and hurried ahead.

Not wasting anymore time, Edmund rushed off back to the building.

“Alina Devan Fusch, listen to me,” Edmund requested.

Using her full name brought Alina up so short that her body tilted to one side in her attempt to turn around and look at him.

It gave him just enough time to grab her up tight and begin moving once again.

Away to one side to the end cap, across the aisle, into the insta-pots, and then off back the way they’d come from. Holding onto her tightly.

Only to end up running into someone else. They were holding a ball of fire in one hand and looked to be looking off in the direction the other super had gone.

“Injustice,” croaked Alina, her hands tightening on Edmund.

Turning at Alina’s words, the super spotted them.

Then he flung his hand forward.

The fireball rapidly became a massive cone of fire that washed over both of them. Causing Edmund’s skin to crisp and the eye that wasn’t protected felt like it was boiling.

His ability to see out of that ey vanishing impossibly quick.

Edmund quickly reloaded the save-state.

Holy shit there’s two of them?

There’s two of them!

Sighing, he rushed over to the back of the car and then paused.

He looked to Dorothy who was standing there staring at him.

“Hey, Dot, could you stop a big ass blast of fire?” he asked. “If I held my hand up and made a cone of fire, you’d stop it?

“You’re a wizard or something or other? That’s your super power? All main-charter of a fantasy story stuff?”

Dorothy was staring at him with wide-eyes. She didn’t say anything for a long while. Seconds ticking by as she stared at him, and he stared at her.

“How do you know that name,” Dorothy whispered.

“Err, Alina told me it just after you died a few reloads ago,” Edmund answered. Then he pointed over at the building. He’d been mentally counting down the seconds. “It’s all a little much to take in, I know. Our time is unlimited but uh… Alina… just died.”

He timed the “just died” to the explosive scream the super had killed her with the first time.

“I’m going to have to rewind time and do this all over again but it’s probably worth asking you all this now cause there’s a spicy dude in there that tosses around fire,” Edmund said while Dorothy was staring at the building. The noise surrounding Alina’s death had been rather loud even out here. “So… can you stop fire? Is that something you can whip out of your wizards six-demon bag?”

Dorothy blinked several times before her eyes turned back to Edmund. She began to slowly nod her head.

“I could do that, sure,” she whispered. “Was it… magical flame?”

“Fuck if I know, melted my face. Was really hot, came outta a small fireball, and was freakishly huge.

“Seemed pretty magical I guess. Dunno. Alina was screaming a lot and I was in pain so… hard to remember.”

“Yeah, I could stop it,” Dorothy agreed.

Edmund clicked his tongue, sighed, then considered what to do.

Then he reloaded the save-state and went through all the same motions he had previously. All the while mentally listing out all the tick-points he’d created as gates to each moment.

Creating a speed-run map of sorts in his mind as he went.

When he got back to the insta-pots he just stood there instead. Holding Alina pressed up to the boxes. Rather than run to the right this time.

He was also counting aloud trying to figure out how long it’d take before he had to act. He’d told Dorothy to stay put in this run so he didn’t have to worry about that at least.

“Your middle name is a boy’s name, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,” Edmund murmured, counting in his head while talking.

“I… you… what the fuck?” asked Alina, staring at him only a few inches away.

“Devan. Boys name, twenty-two, twenty-three,” answered Edmund. He’d glanced around themselves to see if he needed to note anything. It seemed standing here really was providing him with the biggest window so far.

Looking back to Alina he could see her eyes were wide, glowing golden, and her lips a flat line. The music changed tracks in the store.

Then captain spicy came out from the far side of the store.

At the same time, the wounded super with a singing voice to die for came out from the other side.

“Aw man, really?” whined Edmund before he and Alina were literally drowned in a flood of fire and screams.

He reloaded quickly and went right back through the run. Each time he did it he felt like he was taking a few milliseconds off each action and getting better at it.

This time when he got her pressed up to the insta-pots he waited for five seconds and moved into an aisle they were next to. Trying to squeeze up and out of the way of either of the supers.

“Ah ha!” called a voice off to his right a second before fire hosed him down. The super with control over fire was standing on a shelf. Watching over everything.

He’d apparently been posted up there until he got down later.

It meant they couldn’t go into the aisles after getting into the insta-pot hug.

Edmund of course reloaded the save-state.

As he whipped the helmet down over his head he looked to Dorothy as he ran by.

“Dot, I need you to stay here. Count to fifty and then come inside with a shield ready to stop magical flames and heat. Oh, and magical screams that make things explode,” commanded Edmund. He wasn’t quite sure on the timing but he figured he could adjust it on the next run.

“How… you… what?” asked Dorothy as Edmund hustled away.

He once again repeated all his movements right up until he had Alina pinned into the insta-pots. He did it with a bit more force on accident this time and ended up bumping up into her.

“What the hell are you doing?” hissed Alina.

“Err, I’m not trying to touch you or anything, promise,” Edmund murmured then looked around to each side. He was listening for the audio cue of the music changing.

“You sure? Cause you’ve gotten a handful several times now,” growled Alina.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” muttered Edmund.

He wasn’t interested in Alina. He was still somewhat smarting over Romina’s rejection and he wasn’t quite willing or ready to give up on his pursuit of her.

“Shit, okay, here we go,” Edmund murmured as the song changed.

Both supers stepped out and eyed them.

Grabbing Alina Edmund stepped out into the center area and tried to watch both sides at the same time.

The fire super acted first and launched what he could only describe as a spear of fire at the two of them.

Holding tight to Alina, Edmund bent her down and to one side while moving with her. He put his back to the spear and bending down under it while turning to face the screamer.

They’d already launched an attack. He’d fortunately dodged that in the same movement.

Standing up he had a fraction of a second to see the next attack. It was a wide projectile that’d hit both of them.

Edmund put his hands to Alina’s chest and shoved her away from himself and upward. Throwing her into the air and causing her to land a few feet away from himself.

Then a fireball slammed into his chest and scooped out his heart and lungs.

In his haste to move her away, he’d forgotten the fire user.

Fuck that hurts!

Edmund reloaded yet again.

This time he told Dorothy to wait forty-five seconds and went through the whole process yet again. This time he didn’t slam into Alina as roughly and she didn’t seem as grumpy for it.

Once the supers showed up once more he went through the moves again. This time though he did it much more smoothly. Not ducking down this time so much as going down low in a bow over the top of Alina, only to come up and then fling his arm out.

Causing her to spin away from him until only their fingers touched.

The screaming projectile passing between them harmlessly.

Edmund chased after Alina as soon as it did, pulling on her arm and drawing her close as the fireball whipped by behind him. In the same moment he casually pulled off his helmet and used it to knock away a sputtering ball of fire that’d been launched almost as an after thought.

Coming in close to Alina she didn’t resist him in the slightest. She instead put her hands to his shoulders and seemed to wait instruction at this point.

Glancing to the side Edmund watched as the screaming super tottered to one side, then fell over. Hitting the ground with a thud and laying still.

Then Dorothy burst through the door taking the attention away from himself and Alina entirely. Causing the fire super to throw a cone of flame at her, which struck an invisible shield and spilled out all around her.

Edmund couldn’t see anything that was going on in that world of fire and flame from both the caster and Dorothy.

The flames were abruptly cut off and he could see what’d happened.

Dorothy had shaped her shield so the fire came back to the caster.

Either it was a shock, or they couldn’t handle their own heat, as the super had given up on their attack. In the next moment Dorothy made an odd motion with a hand and a cube of force slammed down around him and locked him place.

“There,” Edmund said while panting and looked to Alina while dropping the helmet he’d been holding. “See? Next time don’t run off without me. This wouldn’t have been half as hard if you’d just… you know… not charged ahead.”

Alina was staring at him and then minutely nodded her head.

Edmund grinned, then felt all the energy drain out of him as everything caught up to him. Overusing his super ability with the number of saves had put him on a timer.

Hey… did it though.

Did it.

***

“I loved-your dance,” Andrea shouted through the phone. “Loved it! LOVED IT! It was so amazingly graceful and beautiful! The way Alina hung on you was sexy as hell, too!

“Nn, nn, nn! Amazing Ah-maze-ing! I tried to show Felix it but he was distracted and not really in the mood. You know how he gets.”

Edmund clicked his tongue, rolled his eyes, and looked to the sky above him. He’d only just now finished up his duties for the Association with the police department.

In the end, both of the supers had been registered, fined, and then arrested by the police. Edmund wasn’t sure which one had started the issue, or what was going on, but he didn’t care either.

It wasn’t his place to sort it out. Only to make sure everyone was documented.

“Uh huh,” Edmund murmured.

“Anyways. Faith wants to talk to you. I should give you her phone back,” Andrea complained. It sounded like she was talking to Faith more than him. As if the Dryad were glaring at her.

“You should,” agreed Faith in the background.

“Andrea, I wanted to talk to you about what you left in the trunk of the car I borrowed. Like the fact that the armor is missing,” Edmund started.

“Ooooh! Oh my, look at the time! I really do have to go. I’m so sorry Edmund and I’m sure everything will be fine,” Andrea said loudly and quickly. Her voice at the end trailed off as if she’d already shoved the phone at Faith and was running away from the other woman.

“Whatever you told her at the end there got her to run off,” Faith declared as she took control over the phone.

“I wanted to know where the supplies in the trunk went. All she left in there was an empty pancake mix bag, a laptop that’s probably ruined, and a busted helmet,” Edmund admitted with a chuckle.

Looking around he found Dorothy and Alina off to one side.

Along with a tow-truck that had his very ruined car strapped to it’s bed.

Man, that things trashed.

“Speaking of ruined and busted,” Faith started. “I hear you trashed the car completely. Was it really that necessary to get there that quickly?”

“Maybe? Maybe not? I just figured it’d be good to get there and save lives. It’s hard for anyone to criticize us if we’re doing obvious things to make sure lives are spared. Right?” asked Edmund in a somewhat sheepish tone as he walked over to the two women. He felt rather silly now that she was questioning him.

He hadn’t even considered taking his time and going a normal route with his light-bar on.

I’ve gotten used to just slamming around and getting things done as fast as possible. To rush it right to the end with as little confrontation as possible.

Hm.

I wonder if that’s what my therapist would call my fatal flaw.

“Well… actually, that’s a good point in this case. No one had any footage of any bit of your wild ride up until the landing,” Faith remarked. “That was caught on video as was your escapade inside the store.

“I only know how much of a insane drive it was based on the GPS that’s installed in all our vehicles. It looked like you were going the wrong way for a while there.”

“It happens,” Edmund offered lamely as he came to a stop in front of a pouty looking Dorothy and a concerned Alina.

“Does it? The last time something like this happened you helped Andrea navigate out of a very… sticky situation. Since then, your driving has always been perfect,” Faith offered. It sounded like she was beginning to suspect something.

That maybe her inability to poke through his mind wasn’t as perfect as he thought it was. Perhaps even non-existent and that she was merely playing what was essentially hide and seek with him through gaps in her fingers.

“Yep. Anyways. All done here. I still have the consultants with me. Not really sure what to do at this point,” Edmund confessed. Everything felt rather screwed up to him at the moment. Nothing was where it should be.

“Lay low. Take the day off. Felix insisted on giving you another bonus,” suggested Faith. “Also, I thought it might be prudent to tell you that someone called into Legion asking about you and your employment here.

“Several people, in fact. A principal and a few teachers. From a school district down near where you used to live.”

Edmund winced, closed his eyes, and felt his face screw up into a frown. Gazing longingly at the infinite blackness behind his eyelids, he wondered how long he could stay silent and not mention his sister to anyone.

“For what it’s worth, I know. Felix, knows. No one cares or brought it up because you didn’t. His answer to what to do when I asked him about it was fairly simple. Would you care to guess?” Faith asked. She sounded very impish right now.

Edmund did his best to stay away from all the Dryads. There were more than a few at Legion HQ and they were looking for men to “bond” with. Edmund had made it a personal goal to never be alone with them.

They were far too playful and mischievous for him.

“Nope,” he said finally.

“When he finally tells us about it, tell him we bought the school, the trailer park, and the college that she’d probably go to. Get her into an escalator program so she can join Legion. In fact, just set all that up now so we don’t have to bother with it when he gets around to it, then tell him,” Faith stated in her best Felix impersonation.

I… of course he did.

Of course he did because that’s Felix. That’s what he’d do.

Figure it out, set it up, make sure it’s done. Then wander off to whatever the next problem was. Because any employee worth keeping was worth solving every problem for.

And I’m worth… I’m worth keeping.

Nodding his head, Edmund pressed his teeth and eyes together as tightly as he could. Breaking down in tears wasn’t really possible at the moment.

“Yep,” he got out in a choked breath.

“Awww. I’ll leave it at that. He didn’t think it’d hit that hard for you, but I knew it would. You’re a good person, Edmund,” Faith reassured him. “Take the consultants out to lunch, drop them off at Legion so they can wander around, take the day for yourself. You’ll need to stay down there for a few days just to make sure the cops get all the info they need from you. They’re still feeling around with all the new laws and procedures. Makes it a bit slower than normal.”

Faith didn’t wait for him to say anything else and promptly disconnected the line.

Still nodding his head, Edmund let his hand drop down to his side and stuck it into his pocket.

“For what it’s worth, I think crying is perfectly normal,” Dorothy offered brightly. “Trying to not cry seems very restrictive and wrong. But that’s just me and I come from a very different… different country.”

Ah shit, I forgot they were there staring at me. Ha… haha.

Ugh.

“Ohhh nooo,” his phone cheerfully proclaimed.

Opening his eyes, Edmund pulled his phone back out of his pocket and looked to the front of it.

It was Romina.

She was calling him directly.

It was surprising as he hadn’t really been expecting it to be a phone call but an alert or a reminder.

“Huh?” he mumbled and then tapped accept.

Lifting it to his ear he looked to Alina and Dorothy with an apologetic smile and shrug of his shoulders.

“Hey hey,” he said.

“Hi! Oh! Hi, I wasn’t sure you’d pick up! Are you okay?” Romina asked.

Her voice had made his heart flutter oddly and her concern for him felt genuine. Leaving him with an ugly stone in his guts that made his stomach feel weak.

“I mean, yeah? I’m fine. Just another day at the office I guess,” Edmund said with a chuckle. “Two registrations complete, making a positive impact for the Association and Legion. Gotta get that glow up one way or another, right?”

“I uh… haha, yeah. Yeah! Good job. That video of you is really making the rounds. You should come back home tomorrow and let me give you an interview. We should try to capitalize on it while we can,” Romina suggested.

“Sounds good but I’ll probably be down here for a few more days. Sorry,” Edmund apologized.

“You are? I-alright. Alright. That’s fine. I can come down there. I’ve been meaning to do an HQ tour sometime soon anyways. That’ll work out really well,” Romina stated her tone rapidly picking up in energy as she went. She was always looking for an angle to promote herself and almost always found it. “Will the consultants still be there?”

“Yeah, they’re with me for a while as I understand it,” Edmund reported, looking to Dorothy and Alina.

“Months,” Dorothy supplied helpfully.

“Months,” agreed Alina then shook her head. “But on and off. I have other stuff I’m doing at the same time. This is my second job I guess.”

“Yeah, welcome to the rat-race. We all get to work two or three jobs, expect to be paid nothing, and have to say thank you for the privilege of it all,” growled Edmund.

“Not the time for politics,” Romina chided him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Edmund said after the line popped. “What… what about Dog? Who’s going to feed him?”

“Dog?” asked Dorothy. “You have a dog? I didn’t know you have a dog. What kind of breed is he? She? Is it a girl or a boy?”

“No, no dog. It’s a cat. He’s a boy. That’s the only pet I have.”

“You named your cat, Dog,” Alina stated in a flat tone.

“I sure did Devan,” Edmund grumbled.